Writing: Parallel structure — Example

- [Instructor] If you want to follow the footsteps of Taylor Swift, you would need to have written your first novel by age 11, have signed an artist development deal with a record company by age 14, and be releasing your first album by age 16. So this clause here, even before we think about the, or the sentence here even before we think about the grammar, it puts a bit of undue pressure on you if you want to be like Taylor Swift. She's bit of an overachiever, but anyway, let's focus on the grammar here. So if you want to follow the footsteps of Taylor Swift, you would need to, and then they list three things that you would need to do. You would need to have written your first novel by age 11, have signed an artist development deal with a record company by age 14, and be releasing your first album by age 16. So, when you read that, have you noticed anything? Well, each of these clauses have written starts with a certain form of verb, have written, and in a way you could say a verb clause, but have written, then you have have signed, which feels parallel to have written. It feels like the same form, but then you say and be releasing. Be releasing is a different form than have written or have signed. So this is, this last clause's breaking the parallel structure here, so I definitely don't want. I definitely want no change. If I wanted to be parallel, I would say and have, and have released, and, let me write that down even before I look at the choices, have, let me write over here, and have released, because it was and have released your first album by age 16, you have have written, have signed, and have released. That would be parallel. So I would knock those out, so let's see if any of these choices have that. Be signing, no, I don't wanna all of a sudden make this parallel to this, and then it's breaks with have written, so I wanna rule that out. Have signed an artist development deal with a record company by age 14, and have released your first album by age 16. Yup, this is now it's all, we have nice parallel structure. The same we have have released, we have have signed, and have written. Be signing an artist development deal, well, be signing, once again, this would break the parallel structure with have written, so we wanna rule that one out as well. So feeling really good about this choice.